By Mary Wolbach Lopert

It's July, summer is half over and you haven't touched the list of activities you were going to do with your kids. According to Linda Kelly-Hasset there is a quick, inexpensive way to have great fun with your offspring and create lasting memories. Simply read aloud.

Linda, who taught at Niwot Elementary from 1975 until November 1988, has read to her daughter Erin since the day she was born. "Kids can listen at a higher ability than what they can read," she stated. She credits a lecture she attended by Jim Trelease, author of "The Read-Loud Handbook," with starting her down the reading aloud path. She started reading to her students for five minutes after recess to help settle them down.

She strongly believes that children who are read to have an advantage in that "hearing stories helps develop the emotional quotient, not just the intellectual side. Parents and children can share tears as well as laughter." Linda strongly believes that reading aloud gives children an advantage which lasts even through high school.

According to Dr. Nancy S. Bailey, Professor of Secondary Education at Metropolitan State College of Denver, "Children who have been read to on a regular basis develop greater thinking and listening skills than those children who have not had the same experience." Dr. Bailey noted, "It is the discussion between parent and child following a read aloud session that makes reading aloud such a particularly valuable learning experience."

She explained that stories shared as read alouds initiate meaningful dialogues of discovery between parent and child. "If you want to get to know your children better, try reading aloud to them!"

Dr. Bailey practices what she preaches, by reading aloud short snippets from a variety of resources to her students. She finds that in sharing her love of reading, she helps broaden students' background knowledge. "I know I've been successful when a student asks to have the author's name repeated so they can buy the book just shared."

So on that next long, hot, dog day of summer and the dreaded "b" for bored appears, grab a book, create a lap and start reading aloud. You and your children will remember it for a lifetime.

Jim Trelease's "The Read-Aloud Handbook" is available at the Longmont Public Library